“Break” -the- “Fast”

Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day!  But why?  According to a study by The American Heart Association (http://www.americanheart.org), eating breakfast may reduce the risk of obesity by 35-50%.  When you skip a meal, your brain signals your body’s metabolism to slow down and as a result, your blood sugar drops.  What’s worse, is that skipping breakfast may cause you to overeat later on in the day.  A healthy breakfast should aim to include food items from three of the four food groups and approximately one-quarter to one-third of your daily calories.

• Eating breakfast starts your path on getting the essential nutrients your body needs each day: calcium, iron, fibre and the B-vitamins are such nutrients which we tend to not get enough of.  Most breakfast items (high fibre cereal and whole grain breads, milk, fruit, eggs and peanut butter) contain many if not all of these nutrients helping us get up to speed.
• Incorporating breakfast helps in maintaining a healthy weight: breakfast starts our metabolism up for the day and allows us to follow proper eating patterns and portioning throughout our day.
• Taking the time for breakfast allows you to perform and function better throughout the day: getting our brain ready for problem-solving tasks through work or school, or any physical work required by our jobs are reached by having breakfast.  Overall, it helps to increase our attention span, focus and productivity overall.
• Eating breakfast is one step towards a healthy heart:  studies have shown that eating breakfast helps to lower cholesterol levels by choosing healthy breakfast items such as whole grain bread, fresh fruit, high quality protein or low-fat milk and dairy product.
• Eating breakfast is a positive habit which also sets an example for your children and those around you:  Get into the habit! It will save you in more ways that one and allow those around you to set their health path in the proper direction!

Fuel your day with these nutrient-dense breakfast choices!

Cereal Medley

• 1 C High Fibre Cereal Mix such as All-Bran Buds + Fibre One + Optimum Cereal + Müslix Cereal*
• 1 C Skim or 1% milk
• ¾ C raspberries and blueberries

*choose cereals that provide more than 5 g of fibre per serving

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

• 1 C non-fat vanilla yogurt
• ½ C Granola (such as PC Blue Menu or home-made)
• ¾ C fresh fruit of choice (banana, peaches, strawberries, kiwi)
• 1 Tbsp ground flax
• 1 tsp cinnamon

In a rush in the morning?   Put all of the ingredients into a re-usable container and enjoy when you get to the office.